As I get older I realize I am closer to the end of my life than the beginning. Actually I am much closer. As a male in the US, my life expectancy is 76 and I am 57 years old. That means I have already lived 3/4ths of my expected life span. I have some factors in my favor, since I don’t smoke, drink or live a wild life, but I also have a family history of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and cancer. Though I know my life could end tomorrow, I couldn’t say I was short-changed.
Susan and I got upset with each other a few days ago and it seemed like it took forever for it to pass. The problem was only a minor one and wasn’t worth the time we wasted. Susan had a cold, but still went out to buy food and it made her feel worse. I forgot to bring her mail package home with me and I couldn’t understand why she was so upset. I was tired from work and just wanted to relax a few hours before going to bed. We wasted the next two days in anger when we don’t know how much time we have left with each other. Our time could have been better spent. Susan’s cousin just became a widow and her husband was only 55. What would her cousin give for a little more time with her late husband? I’m sure they wouldn’t spend it in anger over something unimportant.
We can’t waste our time with our family on anger or be distracted by less important things. That time to will come to an end, or be less in the future. We spent 18 years with our daughter in our home and we were able to “train her up in the way she should go.” Now we live on the other side of the world from her and we seldom get to talk. We hope to have more time with her in the future, but did we waste some of the 18 years we had?
We also have no time to waste as we interact with the people we are around each day. Our brief time with them will come to an end and we must use whatever time we have to tell them about Jesus. I spend years working with my coworkers and then we move on to new assignments. I send newsletters and “my stories,” but I will never again have that same opportunity to be a witness to them as I once had. We may tell them in words, acts of kindness, or by the way we live our lives. The time is brief and we must tell them and stop wasting what precious time we have left. We have to tell them “now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2 KJV). If they accept JESUS as their Savior, our time won’t be wasted and we will have an eternity with them.
Wayne Lance (2015)